Game Show

The money came out of the tills and into the bag; the bag into his hands. He knew there was more, but there wasn’t enough time to get it. The poor girl behind the counter looked scared enough. She must be new here. What poor luck for her. At least she knew what to do in this situation. Press the panic button, give them what they want.

The traffic outside would at least slow down the police from getting there. That was also part two of him and his partner’s plan. Out of the bank doors they went, then around the corner into the alleyway. They had already seen that the cameras were easy to avoid. Off with the masks, and out to the opposite side of the block.

There was no getaway car. It would be too easy to track, license plate and all. There were plenty of cabs in the city that would serve them the same purpose. Standing on the side of the street to hail one, they would be indistinguishable from every other business-casual office worker that day, heading back from lunch.

One showed up. They slid into the back seat, one by one. Tell them where you need to go, and shut the door without another glance outside. The vacancy light goes off, and they would be home free behind their tinted glass windows.

The bright lights come on, followed by the extravagant music. A video camera points at them from the front seat, and the driver, gleaming smile and all, looks back at them.

What the fuck is this?

“Welcome to the Money-Mobile, where we ask you stupid questions for the chance to win our chump change on the way to your destination!”

No, we just need to go.

“Sorry fellas, if you guys don’t want to appear on the show, we have to let you out. We’ll comp you a ride with another taxi, but you will have to wait for it to come.”

No, no. We need to go now.

“Well let’s get this started then! You two fellas look like you’ve had a hard enough day. Let’s make it a little better with a chance to win some money. But before that, here’s some messages from our sponsors! –Alright guys, we need you to sign these waivers and release documents so we can put you on TV. You’re all cool with that, right?–”